The Mongla Port Authority (MPA) has agreed to give 50 per cent waiver on storage rent charge to vehicles remaining stranded for years because of dispute over customs duty, officials said.
Until late August, some 1,696 reconditioned vehicles remained undelivered making the port congested for years.
Of the total, 894 cars had been imported by Haq's Bay Automobiles Ltd.
A meeting at the prime minister's office in July 2014 on this issue had decided that the ministry of shipping (MoS) would take a decision regarding store rent charge waiver of the stranded cars to help the importers get the vehicles delivered.
The MoS later in another meeting empowered the MPA to take the decision over store rent charge waiver.
Recently, Haq's Bay made a prayer to the MPA seeking waiver of wharf rent and space rent charges of the stranded cars. These cars were brought to the port over five years back and could not be released due to dispute over customs duty.
The Bangladesh Reconditioned Vehicles Importers and Dealers Association (BARVIDA) also supported the application of Haq's Bay and requested the government to waive 90 per cent of storage rent of the cars.
Five years back when the vehicles were imported, the depreciation rate for one to five years old cars was 35 per cent. The importers found the rate irrational saying that the depreciation rate cannot be the same for vehicles which are old by one year to five years.
The importers then sought intervention of various government departments including the ministries of commerce and finance as well as the prime minister's office.
At one stage, finance minister AMA Muhith intervened in the issue and gave directives which the national board of revenue did not follow.
"Had the revenue board honoured the finance minister's directive, importers could not have faced such hurdles for years," managing director of Haq's Bay Automobiles Ltd Abdul Haque told the FE Friday.
He said even more than three years have passed when the national board of revenue changed the depreciation rate, "but we could not take the cars' delivery due to various other disputes".
Later, the cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA) had to intervene to resolve the disputes, he said.
The CCEA had decided that the cars would be sold to the Bangladesh Police if the importers failed to take those delivered after a certain period.
"We have already incurred a significant loss from these imported cars. Now we want to take delivery of the cars to minimise loss and pay the money back to the banks which funded the import," said Mr Haque.
He suggested the government to introduce specific duty on car import to avoid such complications.
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